Florida 2025 2025 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H0367 Comm Sub / Bill

Filed 03/07/2025

                       
 
CS/HB 367  	2025 
 
 
 
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A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to home and service warranty 2 
association financial requirements; amending s. 3 
634.3077, F.S.; making technical changes; amending s. 4 
634.406, F.S.; revising the circumstances under which 5 
certain service warranty associations are not required 6 
to establish unearned premium reserves or to maintain 7 
contractual liability insurance and are authorized to 8 
allow their premiums to exceed specified ratios; 9 
amending s. 634.414, F.S.; requiring service warranty 10 
contracts that include coverage for certain accidental 11 
damage to be covered by contractual liability 12 
policies; providing exceptions; providing an effective 13 
date. 14 
 15 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 16 
 17 
 Section 1.  Subsection (3) of section 634.3077, Florida 18 
Statutes, is amended to read: 19 
 634.3077  Financial requirements. — 20 
 (3)  An association may not be required to set up an 21 
unearned premium reserve if it has purchased contractual 22 
liability insurance which demonstrates to the satisfaction of 23 
the office that 100 percent of its claim exposure is covered by 24 
such insurance. Such contractual liability insurance shall be 25     
 
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obtained from an insurer or insurers that hold a certificate of 26 
authority to do business within the state or from an insurer or 27 
insurers approved by the office as financially capable of 28 
meeting the obligations incurred pursuant to the policy or 29 
policies. For purposes of this subsection, the contractual 30 
liability policy or policies shall contain the following 31 
provisions: 32 
 (a)  In the event that the home warranty association is 33 
unable to fulfill its obligation under its contracts issued in 34 
this state for any reason, including insolvency, bankruptcy, or 35 
dissolution, the contra ctual liability insurer or insurers will 36 
pay losses and unearned premiums under such plans directly to 37 
persons making claims under such contracts. 38 
 (b)  The insurer or insurers issuing the policy or policies 39 
shall assume full responsibility for the adminis tration of 40 
claims in the event of the inability of the association to do 41 
so. 42 
 (c)  The policy or policies may not be canceled or not 43 
renewed by the insurer or insurers or the association unless 60 44 
days' written notice thereof has been given to the office b y the 45 
insurer or insurers before the date of such cancellation or 46 
nonrenewal. 47 
 (d)  The contractual liability insurance policy or policies 48 
shall insure all home warranty contracts that were issued while 49 
the policy or policies were was in effect whether or not the 50     
 
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premium has been remitted to the insurer or insurers. 51 
 Section 2.  Subsections (3) and (4), paragraphs (b) and (c) 52 
of subsection (6), and paragraph (a) of subsection (7) of 53 
section 634.406, Florida Statutes, are amended to read: 54 
 634.406  Financial requirements.— 55 
 (3)  An association will not be required to establish an 56 
unearned premium reserve if it has purchased contractual 57 
liability insurance which demonstrates to the satisfaction of 58 
the office that 100 percent of its claim exposure is covered by 59 
such policy or policies. The contractual liability insurance 60 
shall be obtained from an insurer or insurers that hold holds a 61 
certificate of authority to do business within the state. For 62 
the purposes of this subsection, the contractual liability 63 
policy or policies shall contain the following provisions: 64 
 (a)  In the event that the service warranty association 65 
does not fulfill its obligation under contracts issued in this 66 
state for any reason, including insolvency, bankruptcy, or 67 
dissolution, the contract ual liability insurer or insurers will 68 
pay losses and unearned premium refunds under such plans 69 
directly to the person making a claim under the contract. 70 
 (b)  The insurer or insurers issuing the contractual 71 
liability policy or policies shall assume full responsibility 72 
for the administration of claims in the event of the inability 73 
of the association to do so. 74 
 (c)  The policy or policies may not be canceled or not 75     
 
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renewed by either the insurer or insurers or the association 76 
unless 60 days' written notice th ereof has been given to the 77 
office by the insurer or insurers before the date of such 78 
cancellation or nonrenewal. 79 
 (d)  The contractual liability insurance policy or policies 80 
shall insure all service warranty contracts which were issued 81 
while the policy or policies were was in effect whether or not 82 
the premium has been remitted to the insurer or insurers. 83 
 (e)  In the event the issuer or issuers of the contractual 84 
liability policy or policies are is fulfilling the service 85 
warranty covered by policy or policies and in the event the 86 
service warranty holder cancels the service warranty, it is the 87 
responsibility of the contractual liability policy issuer or 88 
issuers to effectuate a full refund of unearned premium to the 89 
consumer. This refund shall be subject to t he cancellation fee 90 
provisions of s. 634.414. The salesperson or agent shall refund 91 
to the contractual liability policy issuer or issuers the 92 
unearned pro rata commission. 93 
 (f)  An association may not utilize both the unearned 94 
premium reserve and contractu al liability insurance 95 
simultaneously. However, an association shall be allowed to have 96 
contractual liability coverage on service warranties previously 97 
sold and sell new service warranties covered by the unearned 98 
premium reserve, and the converse of this s hall also be allowed. 99 
An association must be able to distinguish how each individual 100     
 
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service warranty is covered. 101 
 (4)  No warrantor may allow its gross written premiums in 102 
force to exceed a 7-to-1 ratio to net assets; however, a company 103 
may exceed this requirement if: 104 
 (a) The company: 105 
 1.(a) Holds licenses issued pursuant to the provisions of 106 
part I and this part ;, and 107 
 2.(b) Maintains net assets of at least $2.5 million ;, and 108 
 3.(c) Utilizes contractual liability insurance which 109 
reimburses the service warranty association for 100 percent of 110 
its paid claims;, and 111 
 (b)(d) The insurer or insurers issuing the contractual 112 
liability insurance policy or policies maintain maintains a 113 
policyholder surplus of at least $100 million and are is rated 114 
"A" or higher by A.M. Best Company. 115 
 (6)  An association that holds a license under this part 116 
may allow its premiums for service warranties written under this 117 
part to exceed the ratio to net assets limitations of this 118 
section if the association meets all of the following: 119 
 (b)  Uses a contractual liability insurance policy or 120 
policies approved by the office that: 121 
 1.  Reimburse Reimburses the service warranty association 122 
for 100 percent of their its claims liability and are is issued 123 
by an insurer or insurers that maintain maintains a policyholder 124 
surplus of at least $100 million; or 125     
 
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 2.  Comply Complies with subsection (3) and are is issued 126 
by an insurer or insurers that maintain maintains a policyholder 127 
surplus of at least $200 million. 128 
 (c)  The insurer or insurers issuing the contractual 129 
liability insurance policy or policies: 130 
 1.  Are Is rated "A" or higher by A.M. Best Company or an 131 
equivalent rating by another national rating service acceptable 132 
to the office. 133 
 2.  In conjunction with the warranty association's filing 134 
of the quarterly and annual reports, provide provides, on a form 135 
prescribed by the commission, a statement certifying the gross 136 
written premiums in force reported by the warranty ass ociation 137 
and a statement that all of the warranty association's gross 138 
written premium in force is covered under the contractual 139 
liability policy or policies, regardless of whether it has been 140 
reported. 141 
 (7)  An association licensed under this part and hold ing no 142 
other license under part I or part II of this chapter is not 143 
required to establish an unearned premium reserve or maintain 144 
contractual liability insurance and may allow its premiums to 145 
exceed the ratio to net assets limitation of this section if the 146 
association complies with the following: 147 
 (a)  The association or, if the association is a direct or 148 
indirect wholly owned subsidiary of a parent corporation, its 149 
parent corporation has, and maintains at all times, a minimum 150     
 
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net worth of at least $100 mil lion and provides the office with 151 
one of the following: 152 
 1.  A copy of the association's annual audited financial 153 
statements or the audited consolidated financial statements of 154 
the association's parent corporation, prepared by an independent 155 
certified public accountant in accordance with generally 156 
accepted accounting principles, which clearly demonstrate the 157 
net worth of the association or its parent corporation to be 158 
$100 million and a quarterly written certification to the office 159 
that such entity continue s to maintain the net worth required 160 
under this paragraph. 161 
 2.  The association's, or its parent corporation's, Form 162 
10-K, Form 10-Q, or Form 20-F as filed with the United States 163 
Securities and Exchange Commission or such other documents 164 
required to be filed with a recognized stock exchange, which 165 
shall be provided on a quarterly and annual basis within 10 days 166 
after the last date each such report must be filed with the 167 
Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of 168 
Security Dealers Automat ed Quotation system, or other recognized 169 
stock exchange. 170 
 171 
Failure to timely file the documents required under this 172 
paragraph may, at the discretion of the office, subject the 173 
association to suspension or revocation of its license under 174 
this part. 175     
 
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 Section 3.  Subsection (5) is added to section 634.414, 176 
Florida Statutes, to read: 177 
 634.414  Forms; required provisions. — 178 
 (5)  Each service warranty contract that includes coverage 179 
for accidental damage from handling must be covered by the 180 
contractual liability policy referred to in s. 634.406(3), 181 
unless issued by an association not required to establish an 182 
unearned premium reserve or maintain contractual liability 183 
insurance under s. 634.406(7). 184 
 Section 4.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2025. 185